Portrait calendar to aid rape centre

ALL too often it’s the Kerry men that take the limelight, with the women remaining in the background.

But that doesn't mean the ladies are less worthy. Far from it, indeed.

Kerry women of all ages and from all walks life some well-known, others operating in their own quiet, though highly effective, way are featured in a calendar by Killarney photographer Valerie O'Sullivan.

Titled The Beauty of Women 2005 Calendar, the project is expected to raise €12,000 for the Kerry Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre, Tralee.

"These wonderful and sensitive Kerry women are so often forgotten in the midst of our much-celebrated male heroes," Valerie said.

"The calendar is an acknowledgement of the beauty of women and their enormous contribution to life in Kerry today."

The black and white studies portray the women in varying situations. Some are pictured on their own, some with their family, others with their best friends. Some are from the Bangladeshi and Traveller communities.

Oldest woman in the collection is Nora Costelloe, aged 100, from Currow. There, too, are Sue Redican, Dunquin, and the Blasket Islands, Mary Mulvihill, of Ballybunion seaweed baths, Raymonde Hilliard, well-known Killarney farmer, and students Sarah Murphy, Listowel, Laura Ryan, Ballybrack, and Mary O'Connor, Castleisland.

The calendar will be launched by Linda O'Mahony, at the Ballroom Of Romance, Milltown Community Hall on Saturday, November 6, 2005.

It will be the second annual Ballroom of Romance and all proceeds will go to the Kerry Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre.